


They Will Crown Another

by frostvalkyries



Category: Arrow (TV 2012), The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Multi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-04-28
Updated: 2018-06-01
Packaged: 2019-04-28 21:02:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 7,124
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14457690
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/frostvalkyries/pseuds/frostvalkyries
Summary: “She thought you were into Oliver? Dude then why did she flirt with you? Also did you know she works with the arrow?”“She what?” Barry asked, confusion knitting his brows together. He put his hands into his pockets nervously, which Iris was gonna mark was odd. He very clearly had changed in the nine months she was out of action.“She told me she initiated flirting with you-““The Arrow thing Cisco,” Barry interrupted and the shorter man looked briefly embarrassed for not realizing what Barry had been asking.---Eobard made a small miscalculation and made the wrong person a speedster





	1. Pilot

The soft sound of Barry’s laughter echoed around the lab. Iris sat, perched on the edge of Barry’s desk. Her eyes followed him as he laughed, actually staggering backwards. She wasn't actually supposed to be in his lab, she had to sneak in. But, as his bright laughter filled the room, she realized the times like these made it worth it. He was happy, the weight of the world not slowing him down like it usually did. 

“I’m glad you find making me worry about you when Captain Singh told Dad that you’d missed the last train to Central funny,” Iris said, smirking. 

“Well I think this will make up for it,” He laughed, unlocking his phone and pulling up a video. He was smiling so brightly it put the sun to shame. 

“Unless it is video of the Arrow I’ll be pissed at you for getting my hopes up,” Iris explained, the small smirk on her lips begging to differ. He raised his eyebrows at her comment, giving her all the clues she needed to realized what the video was. She smirk grew into a full blow smile because the Starling City vigilante, holy crap! He was famously hard to get video of, going so far as to put an arrow through people’s phones if he caught them filming them. No news station had gotten film of him so far, having the film they somehow managed to catch “mysteriously” disappear. 

“You won’t be disappointed,” he added, still grinning like a dork. It was moments like these that made Iris’s heart skip a beat. She ignored the thought though and watched as on the phone screen a blurry figure that she assumed was the arrow ran across a rooftop and jumped over the edge in a flipping motion. Her impending comment about his luck to be able to catch that on film got caught on her tongue as his phone switched from the video to an incoming call from a “Felicity Smoak” who Iris had never heard of before. The smile gracing her face quickly became a mere illusion as she forced herself to not feel jealous. The two weren’t even dating they were just friends. No matter how much Iris longed for there to be more between them, it was never going to change. The man was oblivious to her romantic feelings. 

“I um, I gotta take this I’ll be right back, I’m super sorry!” Barry apologized as he stepped out of the lab. Iris glanced at the TV, which was showing the News of the Particle accelerator. It seemed as if something was going wrong as the news anchor informed the viewers that they should evacuate. All of the sudden, the power went out. The lab was dark and, as much time as she spent in there, it was still unfamiliar terrain. Iris tried to stumble her way over to the door but she had to take a moment where she stared at the chemicals because she hadn’t exactly aced chemistry the way Barry had but she was 100% sure chemicals weren't supposed to float. She could hear the faint sound of Barry’s shoes slamming into the floor as he raced to get back to the lab and she looked up. Without warning, there was a bright flash of light.

-

With a jolt, Iris woke up to see a pristine white lab. There were two scientists in the back of the room, looking quite startled at the fact that Iris was back in the realm of the conscious. 

“Where am I?” Was the only thing Iris managed to get out. She could faintly hear a comment about how she's awake and one of the scientists calling for someone whose name she didn’t catch. There was a billion questions racing through her head. _What is this place? Who are you? Where is my Dad? What’s going on? What happened to me? Where is Barry? Does this have something to do with the S.T.A.R. Labs explosion?_

“Star Labs-“ The guy began before the girl pushed him aside. She held up a needle and the guy gave her an absolutely horrified look as if he knew what she was going to say next. 

“I’m gonna need to run some blood tests,” She said before the guy shushed her. He ran a hand through his black hair, clearly thinking up what he should suggest she could do besides do a blood test. 

“Not right now. How about you call Barry?” The guy proposed as the girl sent him a quick glare before pulling out a phone. Iris’s heart swelled at the mention of Barry. he’ll be here soon and he can catch her up. Not if she leaves here first though. This place was a bit unnerving after all. The woman put the phone on speaker coolly, clearly annoyed at the fact she had to call him. 

“Who is this?” An unfamiliar voice asked. Before Iris can even lose her smile a voice in the background shouted “Roy give me back my phone! It’s not fair, you actually exercise,” and then silence with the sound of two people running.

“I offered to train you but for some reason you decided against it,” The dude with Barry’s phone, Roy, said before presumably handing Barry’s phone to him.

“I’m sorry about Roy, Caitlin what’s the news?” Barry asked and Iris can imagine him, standing in his lab, drumming his fingers along the side of his desk as the other lab person does what Barry was supposed to be doing and Roy, who must be a new recruit, watches Barry. Barry would undoubtedly run out of the lab as soon as he heard the news. He’d pass by Captain Singh, who would try to stop him from leaving but by the time Captain began his speech that Barry can’t just leave when he wants, he’d be already out the door. 

“Iris is awake,” Caitlin said in a monotone voice that only slightly hinted at her excitement. There was a shocked gasp from the other side of the phone. 

“I’ll be down there in like, Uh, what time is it, ten? I’ll be down at like four or maybe three thirty? Um, as soon as I can leave Starling I will be on my way,” Barry said before Caitlin handed the phone to the male scientist. The dude is chatting with Barry happily, talking about something called “mirakuru” and a man named Ray. Iris’s little daydream of what would happen popped and she felt sick. How long had she been out? She needed to get out of here now. 

“How long was I out?” Iris finds herself ask, dreading the answer. A heavy blanket of silence covered the room and even the guy, Cisco, stopped his chatter with Barry over the phone. Iris clenched the blanket in her hands nervously. How long had it been? A week? A month? A year? Ten years? 

“Nine months. Welcome back Ms. West,” Came a new voice. Iris whipped around to see a man in a wheelchair. She’d recognize that face anywhere after being Barry’s best friend. It was Dr. Harrison Wells, the man who caused her to go into a coma. 

“I need to go see my family. Thanks for saving me and all that,” Iris thanked and ran out of the lab. She headed towards the first place she could think of, CCPD. 

As soon as she burst through the doors of the CCPD her Dad ran over to her. The person he was previously talking to, the new blond cop, stared at her. She supposed that news of her being comatose got around and her being up was shocking. 

“Dad!” She shouted happily, wrapping her arms around him as he looked on the brink of tears. It was good to know that not everything had changed during the nine months she was out of commission.

“You’re awake,” Joe exclaimed, shock crossing his usually stoic face. The blond cop left his side so he could have a moment with Iris, who looked so happy that she was on the verge of tears. 

“It’s so weird, it feels like it was just the blink of an eye. So much has changed! Did you know Barry is in Starling?” Iris asked, looking around the changed station. 

“He’s in Starling?” Joe asked as if he knew nothing about Barry living over a hundred miles away. His tone also implied that he didn’t really care about what Barry’s done in the recent times. Iris’s smile died away when she realized there must have been a fight between the two. 

“Dad, you raised him for three years before he got whisked off to that science school and when he was done? You accepted him back like he was your blood son. What happened while I was out? Was it about me?” Realization dawned on Iris. It was Barry’s lab that Iris got struck by lightning in and she was only there because of him. It makes sense that they would fight. Oh God, Barry must feel so guilty. 

“We had a disagreement,” Joe explained cooly. “It wasn’t about you. I found out that he was still investigating Nora’s murder and I snapped. He’d been receiving these mysterious calls too- two different people would call him and he’d drop everything and I heard him talking about the ‘man in yellow’ and I told him to leave my house. Haven’t seen him since.”

“Dad, you can't just do that. You pushed him away and look where he is! In the most dangerous city in this region. He could die!” Iris whisper yelled, her anger very much evident. 

“Iris-“ Her Dad started but she turned away. “I think actually I want to go home,” She informed him, moving so he couldn’t see her glassy eyes. She briskly marched out the precinct, head held high, like her world didn't just come crashing down on her in the matter of roughly an hour. So much had changed in the last nine months. Her best friend in the world was six hundred miles away, the memorial showed that Fred Chyre was dead, and her Dad wasn’t the man she remembered him to be. She just wished the world would slow down so she could catch up. At the sound of tires screeching, the world slowed to a stop. Iris glanced in the road, shocked at the frozen sight before her. It looked straight out of one of those “pictures taken right before disaster” articles. A child stood in the middle of the road, staring at a car about to hit her head on. Iris dashed out because, if the world isn’t moving, why not save a child? Immediately after she got the child to safety the world resumed speed. Star labs really seems like the best place for her to go right now because what just happened? Did time actually just slow down?

After a brief moment where she physically collided with some walls trying to control what she now realized wasn’t time slowing but was speed, she stared at her phone. She knows she should call Barry because after all this time he deserves to know that at least some of his crazy theories were true. But then again, he left her. He even left his own father for what? For a fresh start? He’d had a chance at that before in high school and what did he do? He ran right back to Central to free his dad. Something must have changed in Barry and She was honestly afraid of this new Barry she’d meet. Afraid he wouldn’t be her Barry. Afraid that he’d be someone else. Afraid that he’d be someone else’s. Iris was unused to being ruled by a fear of anything. She was supposed to be the brave one. She was the one who scared Tony Woodward into submission when he’d target Barry. She was the one who told him to leave fear behind and to go to that fancy science school that he got a scholarship for. And yet here she was, worrying about him. Not just about him but about if he’d moved on from her even though they never were a thing. It was pitiful. No, she decided, i’m not going to call him. Maybe when he decides abandoning the life he had because him and her Dad got in a fight was dumb she’d tell him. For now she would just go to Cisco, Caitlin, and Dr. Wells.

It unnerved Iris about how overly prepared the trio were for her and her powers. Hell, Cisco apparently already had a suit in the works before he even knew she had powers. But, it more called out her reporter’s instinct. To investigate. It also intrigued her that when she asked about how Cisco and Caitlin knew Barry they seemed to not have a rock solid alibi because both had different stories. Cisco’s was that they met while outside the starling Star labs and Caitlin’s being that he came to investigate the Star labs for the hideouts of any Starling Baddie and met them inside the building. Neither seemed particularly convinced of their stories either.

She quickly discovered that there were more metahumans than just her in the bank robber slash murder Clyde Mardon. Joe ignored her claims, stating that she had simply hung out with Barry too much and his crazy theories were rubbing off on her. That earned him an angry stop off to Star Labs by her. Since she was in a pissy mood she decided it would be a great idea to yell at Cisco, Caitlin, and Dr. Wells because no one ever tells her anything. 

Iris quickly took the suit Cisco was working on, ignoring how awkward the fit was. She dashed out of the cortex, listening to the scientists explain what she has to do to defeat Clyde. Unfortunately by the time she gets to the quaint little farm he was hiding out at, her Dad and detective Pretty Boy were already trying to deal with him. Neither were equipped to deal with metas and Eddie slammed into a wall and got knocked unconscious while Joe tried to protect him. He had decided he wasn’t losing another partner to a Mardon. Mardon decided it would be a great Idea to create a F5 tornado and destroy the city so Iris quickly jumped into action, unraveling the tornado under the careful watch of Caitlin. In the end Joe had to end up shooting Clyde. Iris left after her Dad explained to her under no circumstances should she tell Barry. It wasn’t fair to him, after all he’s gone through to build his new life to tell him that what he saw the night of his mother’s death was real. Both Wests knew he would drop everything to come back and try to free his Dad. 

Barry finally got into town about six hours later. He made a lame excuse that no one believed about getting lost in the Starling train station. From what Iris had heard around theprecinct, he’d moved there about a month after she’d gotten struck by lightning. He hadn’t visited the station since he packed his stuff up and moved out of his lab (which was now being used by a British guy named Julian) and Barry had been admitted to the hospital once with mysterious circumstances surrounding it. He hadn’t changed too much, he was just a bit more tired Captain Singh revealed after quite a bit of bugging on Iris’s part. She had looked at the calendar and exactly two weeks ago there was a Police Captain meetup in Starling. The meet up of course was interrupted by a Starling Villain but that wasn’t too surprising for Starling. 

When he turned the door at Star Labs and entered the Cortex with a sheepish smile, Iris couldn’t pull her eyes away. He was a bit more muscular (maybe it was because he wasn’t wearing his blaiser but had traded it out for a bright red bomber jacket). There was a fragment of a scar visible just under his neck and Iris made a mental note to ask him how he got that later. He looked worn out though, dark circles under his eyes and was a bit more guarded than before. 

“Barry! How’s it going in Starling?” Cisco asks, looking up from his work. 

“It's been interesting to say the least. I’m like fifty percent sure I saw a ninja on my way to the train station,” Barry jokes. “I’ve heard things are weirder here in Central though. Felicity showed me footage of a dude who caused a storm in the street,” Barry added before he noticed Iris. 

“Yeah, things have gotten pretty weird,” Iris smiled as she ran over to Barry. They quickly hugged and she contemplated never letting him go. Barry laughed as soon as she let him go. It was an embarrassed laugh, the type he used when he accidentally broke the chemistry lab beaker in college. 

“I’m so sorry I couldn’t get here earlier. I had to explain to my Captain in great detail that, no I wasn’t skipping because I missed Central, my friend actually woke up from a nine month coma,” He explained in tone that indicated that he found the situation to be the funniest thing. 

“So. Starling City. Met any Vigilantes?” Iris asked, remembering the video of the arrow he showed her right before the incident. She meant it as a joke but from the look his face, he really had. Cool, she thought and then immediately wondered ways to get him to spill all the details to her. 

“Uh, long story?” He said, running a hand through his hair, the most obvious sign of him lying. “Shouldn’t we be talking about you? You’re literally up and walking a day after you woke up from a nine month coma! That should be, like, impossible!” 

“Barry, I gave you the data from quite a few tests, you should know that she would be walking,” Caitlin said and Barry stopped talking for a moment. “Also are you ever going to tell me the context to when you answered the phone and then asked me how to know if your arrow wound is healed correctly?” 

“Once I find out why Roy called and asked me about that. I don’t even know how he knew where I was.” There was a brief pause where realization flashed upon his face. “Felicity hacked my phone!” That comment started a banter between Cisco and Barry about Felicity and her apparently terrible computer setup. Whether or not that was a nerd euphemism, Iris didn’t want to know.

“You know, She now works for Ray Palmer I’m pretty sure he likes her but it’s okay because he has some of the coolest tech I think I’ve ever seen and I’ve came here like every weekend since I met you two,” Barry continues to babble about Felicity. 

“I can’t believe you managed to land her! I mean didn’t you say once that Oliver was into her?” Cisco asked, amusement evident in his voice. 

“No I said she’s- you know what? Never mind,” Barry muttered, turning scarlet. Cisco’s eyes squinted just a bit, his eyes gleaming with mischief. 

“You said she’s into him didn’t you!” Cisco declared, amazed by his detective skills and Barry gasped in mock hurt. Iris was annoyed though, if she likes Oliver, why would Barry date her? 

“Actually she said she thought I was into Oliver,” Barry explained, “If you’re gonna mock me, do it right.”

“She thought you were into Oliver? Dude then why did she flirt with you? Also did you know she works with the arrow?” 

“She what?” Barry asked, confusion knitting his brows together. He put his hands into his pockets nervously, which Iris was gonna mark was odd. He very clearly had changed in the nine months she was out of action. 

“She told me she initiated flirting with you-“

“The Arrow thing Cisco,” Barry interrupted and the shorter man looked briefly embarrassed for not realizing what Barry had been asking. At that point in time Iris decided to question Caitlin on what she knew, knowing for a fact that Barry was about to geek out about the Arrow. 

“Who is Felicity?” Iris asked Caitlin softly, watching the two boys passionately discuss anything ranging from the Starling city vigilante to Star Wars. Caitlin pauses her rapid typing to look at Iris, her lips pursed. 

“You don’t know? He told me they met before your coma,” Caitlin vaguely explains, clearly unwilling to explain any more. From that tone though, it makes it sound like Barry and Felicity were dating. Barry Allen, the guy who skipped prom to go to a science convention managed to get a girl. That was by far the most bizzare thing that had changed and there was now metahumans. Caitlin said nothing more, clearly not wanting to partake in the drama that was bound to happen sooner or later. 

“Dude you have to show me how to do the Jedi mind trick you did with Slade,” Cisco whispered and Barry gave him an odd look. He looked around the room briefly, as if checking for something no one else could see, before opening his mouth to respond. 

“I just surprised him,” Barry explained, his tone now equally hushed. Iris was straining to listen in on the boy’s hushed conversation. 

“You just surprised him by grabbing his arm and making him stop?”

“He what?” Iris called, making Cisco jump. Iris was gonna count the fact Barry, who used to jump at every sound, not jumping to be weird. For half a second a weird expression crossed his face but Iris decided against looking to far into it. Things must be really weird in Starling. 

“There was this crazy dude named Slade who tried to murder me and Caitlin and Barry stopped him! This dude was totally insane because he had super strength and then the Arrow got me and Caitlin to make him and cure for the serum that gave the guy super powers,” Cisco eagerly explained while Barry looked everywhere in the room except where Iris was. Iris would have noted how odd Barry was acting at that if she wasn’t trying to process the raw weirdness in that claim. 

“Cisco, you do realize he straight up stabbed me like a day later, right?” Barry asked and Cisco shrugged, clearly nonchalant about it. That must have been the mysterious hospital visit that he had, Iris reasoned. 

Iris opened her mouth to question basically all of that sentence when Barry’s phone started buzzing. As fast as he could, his hand deliberately trying to cover the contact (Iris could read that it said Oli-something though. The nosy part of her personality loved her new powers.) he answered the phone. His face paled a bit as he nodded along to what the person was saying. 

“Can’t you get Dig or Felicity to do it?” There it was, a mention of that Felicity girl again. “They really can’t do it?” He then smiled at whatever the other person was saying. “Fine I’ll be on my way but please stop yelling at me in Russian. I don’t even understand Russian,” he paused before laughing at whatever the man on the phone said, then ended the call with a quick “See ya later Ollie.” 


	2. Flash vs. Arrow

Iris stared in shock at the police officer who had just fired at his own team. What had that meta done to him? She quickly regained her senses and pulled all of the men except her dad out of the way. The shotgun pellets had harmlessly slammed into the wood, destroying the crate where two of the men had previously been standing. 

“Iris get out of here,” Her dad harshly whispered because the gun was too fast. She’d moved the other men out before he’d began to fire but now she doubts she’d be able to make it. Just as the man began to pull the trigger, an arrow embedded itself into his shoulder. He growled and stumbled backwards in pain, still trying to fire the gun as another arrow landed in his other shoulder. She turned to see none other than the Arrow, standing there, getting ready to bolt if necessary. 

“Thanks?” Iris said, though it came out as more of a question. He sent a quick nod her way before escaping out the roof. She stared in shock and it was clear Joe shared the sentiment. Her turned to her slowly, a look of confusion plastered on his face. 

“You know him?” he asked and Iris quickly shook her head. 

“Of course not.” She scoffed at the idea of knowing that murderer. 

-

Barry sighed as he stepped into Jitters with Oliver. Felicity trailed behind, her eyes stuck to her phone as she typed rapidly to Ray. The trio quickly seated themselves before Barry went to order their coffees. 

“Barry do I see you hanging out with Oliver Queen. Like the Oliver Queen,” Iris questioned him from behind the counter. She knew he had a friend named Oliver but to find out that it’s Oliver freaking Queen, her literal celebrity crush, she was shocked. Also the fact he hadn't told her it was _THE_ Oliver Queen annoyed her. She thought they shared they had no secrets. To be fair though, he still didn't know she was the Flash and she'd been doing it for months. 

“Okay that totally slipped my mind that he’s famous but, yeah,” Barry mumbled. 

“How could you even forget that? Did you forget he’s rich too? You know what, I’m gonna go serve you myself I’ll be right out.” Iris shooed him away from the counter as she turned to brew what she knew he was gonna order and grab a notepad to write down Felicity and Oliver’s orders. Barry approached his two friends again to hear their conversation. 

“Okay no, I’m not gonna try to help the Flash. She probably doesn’t even want my help,” Oliver tells Felicity darkly. If his voice betrayed anything, he was annoyed that she kept suggesting such a thing.

"I think that she would probably think it's cool! I mean, you could like give her vigilante tips and stuff! The _ultimate_ team up! What do you think, Barry?" Felicity asked, not-so-subtley requesting back up against Oliver. 

"I agree with Oliver, I think it's a bad idea. She could be like Huntress and not be a good person," Barry added, Ignoring the glare his girlfriend sent him. 

"Barry! you're supposed to be on my side for this," Felicity whined.

“How would I even contact her?” Oliver asked, with a triumphant look on his face. He knew for a fact that Felicity would have no answer for that. 

“Contact who?” Iris asked as she approached the table. Both Oliver and Barry were caught off guard but luckily Felicity managed to cover for them. 

“One of his old one night stands is a real estate agent and he needs to talk to her,” Felicity said as smoothly as she could manage. Since none of the three were particularly good liars they each had giveaways show. Felicity looked like she was about to giggle, Barry straight up did laugh, and Oliver looked slightly more grumpy than usual. Iris raised an eyebrow before grabbing Barry’s arm not-so-gently. 

“Can we talk?” With those words Barry begins to feel anxious. When someone says those words it’s almost never a good thing. He nodded quickly and saw Felicity send him a look of sorrow out of the corner of his eye. He knew for a fact she felt sorry for him, having heard way too much in the foundry that starts with that line. 

“What’s up?” he asked, his nerves psyking him out. He knows that he should have been in central more. He visited every Saturday. (He was sure the man at the front desk knew his train ticket by heart by now.) The only problem with that was that the majority of the time those visits went to his father. For the first two weeks of Iris being up he’d sit with her for an hour and talk but after she had to cancel for her boyfriend Eddie, they’d been too busy to meet up. Fighting the League of Assassins took a lot of work and there was way too much crime for him to skip out on his day job on any day other than his two days off: Saturday and Tuesday. Sure he’d only missed three counting today but that was a month that she was up and they hadn’t had a face to face conversation because honestly, texting didn’t count. Iris pulled him out of his head when she slapped his arm. 

“How did you and Oliver meet?” She asked, a too big smile on her face. God, how could he forget that she had a crush on him all throughout high school? She’d been absolutely heart broken when he’d crashed on the ship. He’d actually had to make a trip from his fancy prep school to console her. It had been a pain in the butt explaining to the headmaster that there wasn’t an actually death in the family but it was a celebrity that his best friend had a crush on was the reason he needed tickets to Central and back.

“I had a case in his building, someone broke in. He came in to give a statement and he decided he hated my guts. He only changed his mind when Felicity decided she liked me. It also helped that I tutored Thea throughout my junior and senior year,” Barry explained in just enough detail. Since him and Iris have been inseparable since they were six she would know if he was holding out on the details, so he told her the details. Just, not the important ones. Unfortunately, she stared at him with her mouth slightly open like she was trying to formulate a response but just couldn’t think of one. “What?” he asked, slightly confused. Had he said something unbelievable? Was she gonna ask for more details? He’s not a good on the fly liar and that would really come to show but he knows that if Joe found out that Iris knows who the Arrow is or that Barry knows him (not that Joe knows) that he would be more dead than a man who broke Iris’s heart. 

“You tutored Thea Queen in high school?” She asked but it sounded more like an accusation. Barry paused for a moment. He could have sworn he’d told her. Though, it was entirely possible Thea’s mother had told him not to tell anyone as to not attract any attention. He’s always had to enter through the back entrance to the mansion because they couldn’t meet at the library like the rest of the kids Barry tutored because that would be too easy. Barry supposed he got it though, Moira had just lost a son and a husband and that would make anyone want to keep the rest of their family closer. He was living proof of what happened when you didn’t. “What else did you do? Were you secretly a troublemaker?” Iris asked, laughing at her own suggestion. If only she knew. Being friends with a teenage Hartley Rathaway was an experience of a lifetime. 

“I’m pretty sure I told you,” Barry explains, earning a side glance from Iris that can only be described as disbelieving. She raised an eyebrow but let it go as her phone buzzed. She pulled it out of her pocket and quickly started typing a response. After about half a second she waves her hand to dismiss him and pulls the phone up to her ear. He can hear her say something about being somewhere after work but he isn’t intentionally eavesdropping. He quickly walks back to his Starling friends before discussing the Flash again. 

“It would be great if we could get her help! I mean look at who she’s defeated. That multiplier dude, that ball of sentient gas, and Snart,” Felicity explains, quickly pulling up photos of the the mentioned metas. Barry sighed and took a sip of his coffee. He knew that this ‘flash’ person wasn’t the one to kill his mother and he was grateful for her interference when things got bad but they looked so similar, with their lightning trails being the only real difference he could see. 

“You just wanna know who she is,” Oliver countered and earned a quick glare from Felicity before she admits defeat. 

“Maybe just a bit but you can shut up Mr. Queen.”

“You two are the worst to go out with, you know that?” Oliver asked, ignoring Barry and Felicity’s annoyed responses. 

-

“You okay?” Barry calls out to Iris, who is sitting on his couch in his hotel room, practically fuming. She muttered something about getting in a fight with her dad and not knowing Eddie’s address. She had her arms crossed and she was deep in though as Barry sat on the bed across from her, just like when they were kids. 

“You know, you’re a coward,” Iris begins out of the blue. Barry tried to ignore the hurt feeling it gave him. She didn’t mean it, she was just mad at Joe and couldn’t think of a better way to express it. “You left my Dad and your Dad and all of the CCPD because you felt sad. You know my Dad’s been acting off ever since I woke up and I blame you. You’re such a coward that you bring your friends here because you’re too scared to visit,” She continued, her voice getting louder. 

“Iris that’s not why-”

“Maybe you’re scared the Flash will hear about you and Eddie’s dumb task force?” Iris cut off Barry, effectively silencing him. Her words cut him deeply and he stumbled backwards at the malice in her eyes. He could have sworn the turned red for a second, too.“Too bad she already knows,” Iris sneered, grabbing his wrist at an inhuman speed, lightning faintly crackling around her. 

“You’re the Flash,” Barry managed out, feeling light headed. Iris apparently now had the same powers as the man in yellow and was, if the way she was looking at him to him anything, aiming to kill him. Now he really regretted pissing her off. She stood up, backing him into the hotel wall with a soft thud.If he could stop the panic rising in him, maybe he could get a clear reading of her actions. That thought quickly disappeared when lightning crackled around her free hand, too similar to the Man in Yellow for Barry's liking.

“If you tell anyone, the only place you’ll end up is graveyard,” Iris threatened, and Barry was on the verge of a panic attack. He knew that if she had literally any other power, hell, even if it was Oliver, he would be less scared. But, though this woman had been his best friend since they were like six, she still had the powers of the man who haunted his nightmares. 

“Hey, um, how about we call S.T.A.R. labs? No reason for violence. I’ll just, uh, I’ll just get out my phone,” Barry explained to Iris, his free hand reaching for his phone. She seemed to think about it for a second, her anger subsiding briefly. That moment of distraction provided exactly what Barry needed to wrest his wrist from Iris’s grasp and press the panic button on his phone. When he successfully reached the other end of the room he turned back, only to see Iris watching him, her eyes a bright red color with the veins under them a black color. 

“What did you just do? Call someone to be your backup because you’re such a coward you can’t handle a single conversation by yourself?” Iris sneered, before bolting out the door. Barry sank back into the wall, happy to be out of Iris’s death grip. His back slid down the wall while he cradled his wrist close to his chest, trying to ignore the pain. After a minute he decided he’d have to evaluate his wrist because Captain Lance would be pissed if he had to miss work after his week long vacation was over. The skin was purple and distinctly marked where Iris had clutched his hand, but other than that and slight wrist pain, it was okay. 

“Barry? Are you okay?” Oliver called from the hall. At the sound of Oliver’s voice Barry lifted himself off the wall. How was he going to explain to Oliver that the Flash has gone evil but he knows that she isn’t normally like that. He was usually untrusting and to find out she’d attacked Barry? He’s gonna have a lot of trouble believing that she’s actually really nice usually. 

“I think we have a problem. We need to go to STAR labs.”

-

“I think we should stop pitching the task force to Captain Singh. He just thinks Starling has made me paranoid and that you’re trying to have an excuse to break up with Iris or something,” Barry began, looking down at the dark sidewalk he was walking down. Eddie gave him an exasperated look, clearly annoyed at the sudden change of opinions. 

“Why is that? She’s working with the Starling city vigilante now and he’s a murderer,” Eddie argued. At that comment Barry stopped and pulled his hands out of his pockets to lightly grab Eddie’s arm. 

“Eddie, he’s saved my life before. I wouldn’t be here right now.” Eddie opened his mouth to respond when all of the sudden he was shoved into the street and Barry was shoved into the wall at an impossible speed. He reached down for his phone to call Ollie, his eyes squeezed shut because the whole world was spinning. His heart sunk, however, when he discovered his phone to be shattered in his back pocket. When his eyes opened he saw Iris in the flash suit standing between him and Eddie, waiting. Eddie was frozen, staring at the Flash who had just attacked him. 

“Just my luck that the vigilante no one trusts saves my life but the one everyone trusts tries to kill me,” Barry quips to get Iris’s attention away from Eddie. She turns to Barry, and he stumbles, feeling sick. 

“He probably wouldn’t have saved you if you tried to set up a task force against him,” Iris proposes, her voice sounding weird and making his headache worse. Barry leans back against the wall of the building because her voice was too loud and the before dim lighting was now too bright. If he were more lucid Barry would have started running by then. 

“I would have saved him anyway,” Oliver calls out, releasing an arrow from his bow. It exploded into a rope the wrapped around Iris before Oliver looked at Barry and Eddie. “Run.”

Eddie glanced at the two vigilantes duking it out before pulling Barry off of the wall. The two bolted down the street, blatantly ignoring the action going on behind them. Eddie was pulling Barry gently as not to put him in any more pain than needed. Barry strained back to try to hear how the fight was going but the only noise that reached his ears was the sound of fire. That in itself was concerning. When he saw Eddie’s motion that they need to keep moving, he continued to head in the general direction of the hotel. Of course after he reached the hotel he realized that he left his hotel key at Star Labs because of course he did. And his phone was shattered too, good. After Eddie escorted him to the hotel room he took Barry aside. 

“I’m going to continue with the Task force. After the Flash did this to me, I’m sure Captain will approve it,” Eddie explained, holding up his bleeding hand. It was clearly from when Iris had shoved him hard into the road. “You shouldn’t pitch it though, The Flash already seems mad enough at you,” Eddie added for good measure, seeing the confused look on Barry’s face. "Also you might want go to the hospital and get checked out. Do you want to do there now?" Eddie asked, looking at Barry curiously. Barry shook his head, knowing he was hurt but also knowing he didn't want to have to justify a second hospital trip in one year. 

Barry let Eddie leave to pitch the task force, not particularly feel like explaining the whole meta human controlling the Flash’s emotions situation or the fact he knew who both vigilantes were. That would mean revealing to Eddie that he was a part of the Arrow’s team and he’s at least 98% sure that Eddie would arrest him on the spot. That would make things complicated to say the least. Joe would give him that look too and Barry knows that at least someone would make a big deal about him being just like his father. And his Dad, oh God, no. His Dad wouldn’t have anyone working to get him out. 

-

It took Felicity and Oliver about an hour to actually go back to the hotel room, all with Felicity getting distracted by every cool machine in Star Labs, and Oliver having to drag her away. It took a literal half an hour to get her out of the cortex. Another twenty minutes were lost trying to get to the elevator. When Felicity and Oliver found where Barry was, she wrapped him in a tight hug. 

“You were great bait! How’d you know she’d be after you?” Felicity asked once she let him go enough for him to breathe. 

“Well, it’s Iris. I’ve known her since I was like, what, six. We can practically read each other’s minds,” Barry joked, nervously checking the hotel room door’s lock.

“I still don’t think we should have used you as bait,” Oliver sighs, his arms crossed. 

“You uh, you didn’t tell them we work together, right? Because I’m like fifty percent sure that Cisco would be pissed that I didn’t tell him who the Arrow is when he asked me,” Barry questioned, hoping the pair looking at him had kept their promise. 

“Yes But Dr. Wells outed who I am so they likely have some suspicions,” Oliver informed Barry, before passing them both and locking himself in their room. 

“Was Joe there? Because Joe will kill me,” Barry stated, messing with his jacket nervously. Felicity only laughed at that.


End file.
